Mila, I wanted to start my comment by thanking you for being vulnerable and sharing your struggle. I often find myself feeling uncomfortable talking about indigenous perspectives as well; the history is clear but as a teacher discussing historical events that led to generational trauma, loss, and shame surrounding a culture, a lot of feelings are likely to emerge. The feeling of guilt stems from your ability to empathize with another’s pain; however, guilt is a heavy load to bear, and it is not necessarily one I believe indigenous people want non-indigenous people to carry. Now, mind you, even though I am Metis, it does not give me the right to speak on behalf of all Metis, these are just my own thoughts, but I do hope that others agree with me and that I am on the right track here. I think speaking about the dehumanization, segregation, marginalization, stereotypes, misrepresentation, violations of human rights and more that took place throughout history is necessary to talk about. These events shaped many cultures across the world and therefore, hard emotions are bound to surface. However, I believe it is equally necessary that non-indigenous people that support indigenous communities by openly discussing Canada’s dark history must learn to separate themselves from the mistakes made in the past. The way I see it, if non-indigenous people are actively discussing hard issues in hopes to facilitate positive change for mistreated minority groups, then they are breaking the cycle of their ancestors rather than repeating it. There is a saying, and unfortunately, I do not remember who said it, but it goes like this, “you are either actively trying to break a cycle, or you are enabling it, there is no in between”. So, I believe that if non-indigenous teachers (and people) continue to be courageous and engage in reshaping society by sharing what they have learned about another culture’s history, the next generation can carry these lessons forward to prevent damaging events like these from reoccurring. A future I am sure we all agree upon. If anyone has concerns with my response, please let me know!
